Weekly Roundup 11/17/22 (John Ray’s FTX filing, will FTX political contributions be repaid, what’s wrong with effective altruism?) (EP.372)
Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Matt’s blog post, ‘It’s Time to Grow Up’ The Alameda – FTX relationship was always sketchy Would FTX ever have been able to go public? Why don’t we have decent disclosure for token emissions? How do we put this crisis to […]
Travis Scher on the FTX impact on Crypto VC (EP.373)
Travis Scher, co-founder of North Island Ventures joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Travis’ investing career including his tenure at DCG and his path to founded North Island Ventures. How Travis initially met SBF and his reasons for passing on the deal. Analysis of the bankruptcy process and the likely second order impacts. […]
Weekly Roundup 11/24/22 (SBF is at large, DCG’s fate, what we are thankful for) (EP.374)
Matt and Nic return for a Thanksgiving episode of OTB. In this episode: Liz Warren writes her first good letter ever? SBF is striking a defiant tone Sam’s new letter to employees Is the Alameda/FTX situation really that complicated? Sam’s parents bought tens of millions worth of Bahamas property The Bahamas steps in and seizes […]
Mike Belshe (BitGo) on FTX and the impact on crypto market structure (EP.375)
Mike Belshe, co-founder and CEO of BitGo joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mike’s thoughts on FTX and the unfolding fraud case. His views on crypto market structure and how it is likely to evolve in the face of the FTX collapse. The regulatory landscape and the path forward for spot market regulation. […]
Weekly Roundup 12/01/22 (Is SBF playing the media, more Bad Boys, Binance’s Proof of Reserve) (EP.377)
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Tether collapse scenarios The wrapped Bitcoin issue Ria and others are named Forbes 30 under 30 Sam is still not in jail Sam’s hidden media strategy How Sam could be positioning himself for the case Was FTX really a case […]
Mahesh Ramakrishnan (Escape Velocity) on Decentralized Wireless (EP.376)
Mahesh Ramakrishnan of Escape Velocity joins the show. In this episode we discuss: Mahesh’s career in traditional financial services and the path that led him to launching Escape Velocity. The decentralized wireless market and how it is likely to evolve. How tokenized protocols and USD stablecoins are likely to play a role in this evolution. […]
John Palmer (CBOE Digital) on Regulated Digital Asset Derivatives (EP.379)
John Palmer, the CEO of CBOE Digital joins the show. In this episode we discuss: John’s career and the path that led him to CBOE Digital. The history of CBOE Digital, including the acquisition of ErisX and the company’s recent funding round. CBOE Digital’s product approach. The regulatory landscape in the United States and how […]
Robert Miller (Flashbots) on Decentralizing Block Building with SUAVE (EP.378)
In this episode, Ria is joined by Robert Miller, Steward at Flashbots, which is a research and development organization with the aim to reduce the negative externalities and risks posed by MEV, or maximal extractable value. We cover: The MEV supply chain and how it’s evolved as Ethereum transitioned from Proof of Work to Proof […]
Weekly Roundup 12/08/22 (FTX’s Venture Portfolio, SBF’s mining investment, BlockFi retrospective) (EP.380)
Matt and Nic return for another episode of news and deals. In this episode: Brink Nation’s surprising fan club in Bali We investigate FTX’s leaked private equity portfolio FTX employees were raising LP money for funds from FTX Why was FTX acting as a fund of funds? What is modulo capital The Michael Lewis – […]
Weekly Roundup 12/16/22 (SBF Arrest, Binance’s ‘Bank run’, Gensler, FTX, and IEX) (EP.381)
Matt and Nic are back for another wild week of news and deals. In this episode: Is SBF currently interned in a top 5 prison on earth? SBF is finally arrested We enumerate the charges from the SEC, CFTC, and DOJ What kind of sentence could Sam be looking at here? The CFTC’s interesting argument […]